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Kara pulled herself out of her own thoughts. She had started drifting off after the long day. "Huh? Where'd she go?" Kara looked around but the woman was gone. "Well she had to have been here... the meat is still here." Kara shrugged. "Well, at least we got fed I guess. We should probably get some sleep. Who wants to take the first watch tonight?" Kara stood up and stretched a bit. "I can if no one else wants to. I'm more of a night owl anyways." Kara also was hoping she could do a little magic practice once everyone went to sleep. Nothing too exciting, just practicing her shielding.

Rypa stood and strung her bow.
"I'm just going to get something to eat I couldn't have a conversation with." Said the Elf "I'll shan't be long and when I'm back I'll join you on the first watch."
The elf stood and walked into the woods. It did not take long for her to come across a sleeping boar and quickly dispatched it. She dragged it back to the hut where she started preparing the carcass.
"I don't think I like what has been happening round here... it doesn't feel right."

Tonaf was busy gazing toward the fire when the figure disappeared, only raising his head when the others had pointed out the being's sudden fade. Stunned, he surveyed his surroundings; the meat was still fresh -- the heat of the fire still caressed his flesh with hearth. Not to mention that the cabin still loomed welcomingly over their heads.

He gave a light sigh before he spoke. "Illusions or not, seems like whoever is playing us still likes us, I guess." Ton muttered, a sigh under his breath. "Otherwise the fire and meals would be gone too, no?" He wondered, pitying those words with a sudden thought if the meat was truly real, or at worst, poisonous.

"I think I need to stomach this night with a rest first." He replied in comment to the choice of first watch.

" Right...I will take the blessing" Getsurei said as he stretched on his side. The scent of the boar's blood made him shift his head to watch Rypa. It seemed like they would have decent for some time.

" The risk of seeking magic is all that it brings. Where the veil is thin....unusual things occur" Even as a man he rested like a wolf with his limbs stretched towards the fire. " Rest...I will take it"

Kara turned towards the man, "You fought harder than I did, it's your turn to rest. I will wake you for second watch ok?" She then stretched and tossed a small log on the fire before wandering around the perimeter. Rypa would be back in a bit and Kara wanted to put up some defenses once everyone was settled for the evening. Kara took a look around the cabin and mentally noted her path for warding the area. She hoped it was at least somewhat effective. The day had been strange and a bit too real for her. While she was not quite as naive as she sometimes implied, there had been a few strange events that were just a little too strange for her. In her eagerness to travel to see the rune stones she had not adequately vetted her companions. While she did not believe they meant her any harm, she made a mental note to learn more about them during the conversations the next day.

Once Rypa came back and settled to cook her kill, Kara once again wandered the perimeter, this time muttering under her breath. Using the protection runes she had already learned, she made a bubble around the area to deter anything that would wish harm upon those inside the circle. While it might not be effective against other magical beings, she was sure it would at least protect them from any wild animals during the night. The smell of the meat probably had carried far and attracting coyotes or wolves or bears was not something Kara wanted to deal with.

Rypa looked up from the meat and studied the Gnome. She wondered if like the wolf; if not a cursed shape changer but something more than she seemed. She took a bite out of the meat wondering if she was getting paranoid.
Once she had eatened her fill she started prepping the rest for the for the trip.
"So what do you seek at the end of your quest?"

"I'll be on my inside, too." Tonaf mentioned as he invited himself within the cabin, a slight cooler on the inside and away from the warmth of flames. The furniture within was worn with age, but not dusty strangely enough -- as though this placed had housed a resident before the group. Maybe it was the image of that woman from earlier, he wondered. 'Was she nought but a ghostly caretaker of this cabin?'

The Dwarf sat beside a wooden stool, creaking upon the old floorboard by a carved, circular table with a wax candle and notes laid upon the surface. He impulsively swiped at a written piece of parchment, then he lined the ink with his heavy eyes. He could not read the joined scribbles, their contents hidden by the barrier of a language that he could not understand. He placed the paper back where it belonged, albiet a slight uneven in his defeat.

"I hope my cart is alright..." He muttered under his tired breath.

Keeping his gaze fixed on the flames, he nodded. " Alright, Kara. Thanks" Once she left he allowed darkness to take his vision.

Closing his eyes allowed the rest of his senses to dominate his mind. The warm, smoky scent of the burning logs added to the sweet wood and musty leather to make it feel like a home. The sounds of the nightlife were in equal parts soothing and eerie. He swore he could hear goblins or perhaps something else in the far distance.

The creak of the floor drew his attention indoors. He could hear the crinkle of the parchment that the dwarf read then put down. It was Tonaf's tired words that made him open his eyes. " I can check on it for you....perhaps even hide it somewhere safe"

Kara settled down next to Rypa and considered her question. "My quest is to continually seek knowledge and learn the magic of runes, I don't know if there really is an end to my quest. However, I guess another answer could be to earn my magical name. Once you have acqured a certain level of mastery within magic, you earn the right to choose your name. My hope is to one day be known as RuneWeaver. So, that would be what I'm seeking I supposed."

Kara saw Tonaf enter the cabin, but her ears were not as keen as the wolf's so she did not hear the rustle of papers. She did hope there would be a place for her to sleep in there when her watch was over though. Kara shot a confused look at Getsurei at his offer, she had not heard the dwarf's worry over his cart. "Check on what?"

The lent back on her elbows and looked to the sky scowling at the moon.
"The Ancheints used runes to nail down a river." She said "Magic is flux and should be handled with care and a clear sim in mind."
She drifted into silence studying the stars with the occasional glare directed at the moon. One of her teachers had once tried to explain the great cycle to her but it had never really stuck but she felt that there had been a change something new had come to pass.
"Goblins don't come this far into the forest and hellhounds don't normally walk as men." She said to the sky as much to anyone.
She slowly rolled her to look at the gnome.
"Why do you think our Dwarven friend is so concern with his cart?"

A raised brow wrinkled over Tonaf's forehead. "You could do that..? All the way out here..?" He had no reason to doubt Getsurei, with all the power the shapeshifter had shown. More than anything, Ton was simply taken aback by the kind gesture, frowning slightly under his beard while clasping his broad fingers together.

"Eeeeii- It's really just the Goblins I'm worried about, to be honest." He muttered with a twitch. "The roads are safe, usually. Those urchin will pull the cart to shreds if they catch it..." Ton continued, resting himself upon his arm by the table in an attempt to relax himself. But the only warmth he mustered was an exhaled sigh as his heavy eyes scanned the shelves surrounding the cabin. Just more parchments hauled upon the shelves, alongside strange vials full of still liquid he'd dare not guess, colonies of microbes formed upon their surfaces like isles in the sea.

" Yeah, it would be no problem at all" Getsurei said sliding his hands across the floor. Hair fell in his face as he shoved himself up. " No need to worry about the goblins if I hide it. You can check on it anytime if you let me know"

He reached out towards the fire place and took an ember between his claws. The way the fire danced inside made it look like a precious gem. That was the problem with wood, it was food for other creatures. Leaving the cart with Cerberus was a poor idea. Frowning at the thought, he closed his hand around the ember and looked out the door. " I have an old friend who will make sure it stays in one piece...if you don't mind cats"

Kara cocked her head at Rypa's question. She hadn't considered the why up til now. After all, she had quite enough to process of their day as it was. "Honestly? I hadn't really thought about it. I would assume his livelyhood centers around that cart, therefore to lose it or have it destroyed would be a great loss to him. Do you think there is more to it than that?" Kara did a quick glance around at the peremiter of the camp., "Or am I misunderstanding your question?"

When Getsurei reached into the fire to pluck and ember, Kara turned slightly to face him and asked "Whatcha doing?"

Shrugging her shoulders Rypa watched Getsurei watching him pick up the ember. She assumed he was going to eat it. She thought on what Kara had said. The elf depended on her weapons but if she lost one it could be replaced or she would be dead. It would be a quick death for her where as the if the Dwarf would face a slow lingering death by starvation.

"Cats..?" Tonaf asked with a blurt and a slow lean forward, his body quickly caressed by the welcoming heat wafted from the fireplace. Then he shrugged his broad shoulders with little thought of the matter. "...Er, well. Dun't matter much to me who takes care of it. Cats, deer, bears even." He continued, Getsurei's subtle words flying over his head. "So long as it's hidden I guess, ready for the next batch of merchants to come along." Ton finished with a mumbling sentence, reclining himself back with heavy eyes. He was tired, withdrawn by the earlier adrenaline when they skirmished against the Goblins, rubbing his eyelids when the golden glow of spitting embers caused a soreness in his watery vision.

Tonaf removed himself from his stool with a little hop upon the floorboard. Then he turned back to the Shapeshifter. "I'll take my rest now, if you don't mind, Mister Getsurei. And thank you for the kind act." Tonaf gave a short bow, his stunted physique giving him little room to stretch his rigid body any further.

Then he retreated into the darkness of the cabin, relieving himself of his boots and lounging upon the matress of straw.

Getsurei bowed his own head with a small smile to the dwarf. When Tonaf was out of sight, he turned his attention to his fist. Black smudges made his hand resembled a paw when he opened it. " I was just thinking" He mumbled as he tossed the coal back into the pit.

" I need to keep my word" The floor creaked under him as he got up. Even as a man he walked on his toes, passing by Rypa and Kara to step into the darkness. A roaring orange glow lit the dark forest, casting eerie shadows. Once he stepped through, it vanished.

He found the cart right where it was left. He walked around it, looking around and listening for danger. When all seemed good he untied the cart from the tree and hauled it through another portal. He wasn't sure how his friend would take it but hoped to return soon.

Kara partially noticed Getsurei's departure, but seeing as how he was a grown man, she made no move to stop him. Lounging back, Kara gazed at the stars and listened to the forest around her. She did not hear anything but the natural noises of the night. She hoped it would continue that way. She did not want to be drawn into another fight. After about half an hour she got up. "I'm going to do a little practice if you don't mind, I'll be right over there" She pointed to the edge of where she had earlier drawn the boundary. She was just out of direct firelight but still somewhat visible. She didn't exactly want to do anything in the middle of their camp, especially if she lost focus on what she was doing. No sense in being reckless. Kara wandered over to the spot she had pointed out taking her bag with her. She pulled out a book that would seem somewhat small to the rest of the party, but was quite big for her. She idly thumbed through before deciding on a spell to try. Rypa would only be able to vaguely see that she would use her finger to trace some kind of shape in the air before her while intoning something unrecognizable under her breath. There was a slight glow that settled around her and Kara giggled and clapped her hands at her successful shield. This would be extremely useful in the next fight. She traced another rune and intoned another word and the glow around her suddenly grew spikes like porcupine quills. Kara smiled and nodded quite proud of herself and then closed her eyes. As she took a deep breath the glow around her faded. She repeated that process about five times to make sure she had it down before closing her book and packing it away in her bag. She wandered back over to the fire and settled down to stare into the flames idly.

Rypa watch the Gnome for a moment before switching back to keeping an eye on the distrusted moon. She kept check on the passage of time listening out for any sign of trouble. when her watch came to and end she sprang to her feet.
"Kara; time to turn in we have a fair walk ahead of us tomorrow if you still want to see the needles of the ancheints."
She walked into the hut to wake the others before settling down to meditate.

Hours passed as Ton lounged sleepily upon the mattress, flickering like seconds between each doze of momentary wake, before slouching his head back onto his pillow. His rest was partitioned throughout the night, not by his own doing. Something felt off, he felt strangely insecure, a part of his mind worrying that they would face an eager ambush of those goblins from earlier. But he would cast the thought away from his mind each time he woke -- the smothering warmth from the living room reminded him that no threat loomed, even if it had occurred to him that his axe was outside still, cast away near a log seat.

He rubbed his eyes, waking once more to find that dawn had not yet risen. Ton grumbled silently, for it was probably still during the middle of the night and his sleep had been greatly diminished. It was then that his ears perked once the sound of faint footsteps hit upon the floorboards. He did not check to see their owner however.

When Getsurei had returned a dagger was strapped next to waist. With the exception of the night life and Kara practicing, everything was quiet and calm. Being bare foot allowed him to mosey to the fireside without disturbing the others. He stretched out on his side and let the melody of the night lull him to sleep.

His own dreams were a combination of the goblin battle and the war he fought long ago. Fingers clawed at the floor as the nightmare played out before him, making the regret of his mistakes far worse. An edge of defense held him on a dangerous brink yet sleep cradled him enough to keep him unaware of Rypa's approach.